How long before lowering price for rental

[dragonwalker]

I have a 2B2B condo unit near LA. I currently rent 1 room to a working couple. The unit is clean and I'm trying to rent the other room with furnishings including bed, dresser, table. I researched the market for a private room and bath and came up with $1200/month + utilities. I've had it listed for about 5 days and over 1 weekend and I've gotten very few inquires and no one interested in looking at it. When I rented in 5/2021 for less I got a ton of interest. It's more now but I priced it at what the market was at that time as well.

I'm advertising on facebook marketplace (where I found my first room mate), Zillow, and craigslist. I wrote a detailed description with amenities and used good photos (although the furniture is not accurate to the current furniture, which I indicated, when I did this 4 years ago there was no issue either but at the time the room wasn't going to be furnished).

Does anyone have any suggestions of what might help me rent it? How long should I wait before lowering the price and by how much?

[Dicey]

Getting along with two roommates, especially a couple, can be tricky. Does each person pay 1/3 of the utilities? Who gets the parking? Is the new person always out voted? IMo, it's not the price, it's the situation.

We are a FIRE couple. We recently converted part of our home into a Junior ADU. The tenant has a separate entrance, 1bedroom, a private bath, mini kitchen, house kitchen privileges, laundry access, and ample parking. We charge a similar rent, with utilities included. We're in the Bay Area, so similar housing costs.

In your situation, I'd incentiveize your tenants to find someone they'd be comfortable living with.

[Omy]

How much did you rent it for in 2021? Rents have not increased in my area (east coast hcol area) since then. If anything they've declined a bit or remained flat after the covid bump.

Was there a couple in the other room when you rented it out in 2021? Assuming they aren't sabotaging your chances at renting, I'd drop the price pretty quickly.

If I were a looking for a rental, I'd be more inclined to move in with one stranger than with a couple. I assume you are trying to get more rental income with this approach, but it is an awkward situation for both sets of tenants as Dicey mentioned.

[dragonwalker]

Getting along with two roommates, especially a couple, can be tricky. Does each person pay 1/3 of the utilities? Who gets the parking? Is the new person always out voted? IMo, it's not the price, it's the situation.

We are a FIRE couple. We recently converted part of our home into a Junior ADU. The tenant has a separate entrance, 1bedroom, a private bath, mini kitchen, house kitchen privileges, laundry access, and ample parking. We charge a similar rent, with utilities included. We're in the Bay Area, so similar housing costs.

In your situation, I'd incentiveize your tenants to find someone they'd be comfortable living with.

Yes, it could be. Interestingly I have a fair amount of experience living with multiple people in different households. Most of the time in situations like these people mostly ignore each other but ofcourse there are exceptions. In my experience right or wrong there often are clues about people that seem to indicate their agreeableness. Anyway, I did mention utilities would be divided in half between the households. There is a 2 car garage with a outside parking pass. The couple get 1 garage and the pass, the other room mate gets 1 garage which is the current arrangement. Not sure where the "voting" aspect would come in. If there is a dispute that can not be worked out than I will decided what is to be done. I do realize between room mates simple things often do come out like cleaniness, trash, AC use, guests. I do plan to cover the most common issues. My current room mate has lived there since nearly the time I moved in. His GF which has been with him almost as long officially moved in about 7 months ago. Very good roommates, very quiet, respecful, working professionals that go back to their home on most weekends. I couldn't ask for better. The first thing I did was speak to them about my departure and a chance to rent the entire unit at a discount or find a friend. The one person they know can't move for 6 months due to a lease and they are not interested in taking the whole unit even at a discount.

I specifically chose this condo because it has a master suite arrangement where the rooms and baths are on opposite sides of the unit maximizing privacy and optimizing they kinds of rental situations. The amount of money I am charging appears to be fair market value from what I can tell. I spent time revising the description to make it descriptive but not to long and used good photos although I may need to change a few to reflect exactly what furniture will remain. What is a reasonable amount of time to wait before dropping the price and for this situation by how much $50? I have removed the part where I explicitly say there is a couple and just said other tenant.

Also, has anyone paid for facebook advertising. I tried it and it appears to have increased the number of clicks on the add. So far about 1000 people have clicked on it. I have gotten maybe half dozen conversations but none have gone very far besides just asking if it is available. 1 has gone further but not much.

[dragonwalker]

How much did you rent it for in 2021? Rents have not increased in my area (east coast hcol area) since then. If anything they've declined a bit or remained flat after the covid bump.

Was there a couple in the other room when you rented it out in 2021? Assuming they aren't sabotaging your chances at renting, I'd drop the price pretty quickly.

If I were a looking for a rental, I'd be more inclined to move in with one stranger than with a couple. I assume you are trying to get more rental income with this approach, but it is an awkward situation for both sets of tenants as Dicey mentioned.

I rented for $1000 in 5/2021. I received almost daily messages from multiple people at the time and was able to find a very strong candidate that has remained my tenant since that day. I have regularly looked at rent to see trending and they have trended up. For my current tenant after 1 year I raised rent 3%, then 4%, and finally 3% to about $1100 before we agreed to move in his GF and I increased it $300 more + 75% utilities. so about $1400 in total for them which can't be beat in the area. I understand what you are saying about moving in with a couple however I have noticed many other ads have rooms in houses with multiple people which posses another set of issues. I have lived with couples before and my experience is good. 

[Freedomin5]

How quickly do you want it rented out? How many other similar listings are there in your area? If you want it rented quickly and you want your pick of tenants, I would price it slightly below fair market value (maybe $50 below), so you generate more interest and can be more selective in terms of choosing a good tenant. I would rather make slightly less money and have an excellent tenant who pays on time and never gives me an ounce of trouble, than to make an extra $50/month and have a tenant who causes headaches and problems.

And yes, the pics you post should be exactly what the unit and furniture look like now. If I were looking for a unit and saw that the pics and furniture in the ad did not actually match the real unit, I’d be suspicious that it was a fake posting.

[MrGreen]

At $1,200 a month, a month of vacancy is the same thing as renting for $1,100 a month.

[GilesMM]

If there is any seasonal component to rents that could be an issue.  Our town has a major university and all the students move out during the summer so rents crash for June-Aug.  Landlords are better off doing short-term summer vacation rentals for three months and then sign students up again for September.

[franklin4]

Rent control is a factor to consider - sometimes it's better to have a place vacant for awhile while trying for higher rent if you would be affected by restrictions for rent increases going forward.